As of this morning, 23 FMs, 8 of them translators, and 3 AMs are still dark in coastal Carolina.
programmer consultant John Sebastian says he has a “long-overdue radio format for those age 55+,” calling those listeners “the most undervalued, under-appreciated and under-exploited demographic in American life right now. We don’t know John’s name for the format or its concept. Sebastian programmed in L.A for three different decades” plus many other major markets .
Nielsen Audio drops four diary markets: Hilton Head, SC, Charlottesville VA, Merced California and Medford-Ashland oregon
Tom Kent adds a new weekend show to the Tom Kent radio network called
Sweet Soul Weekend. Designed for both urban AC and classic hits stations, we guess it will be Jamin’ Oldies. The host will be Jeff Foxx, who has done PM drive at New York urban AC WBLS 107.5 for over 20 years.
In Radio Vandal News: Thieves steal $1,000 of copper and cause $80,000 of damage to a radio station in Arkansas . Somebody cut the chain on the gate and cut the main wires to the generator and “hooked a rope or cable onto the wires, and used a truck to pull the wire out of the ground and building.” The bad guys “had knowledge of which wires were live.” And turned off the propane gas hooked up to the generator. But oops! A deputy reported finding a motel room key near the building’s front door.
Lexington Kentucky police arrest Jason Bennett after a camera catches him on August 1st dumping construction site waste at an iHeart transmitter site.
A new radio streaming service called TuneGenie wins a broad U.S. patent for its technology to “convert websites into media players.”
“Until now, radio stations and podcasters have been using multiple media players that force their audiences off their sites.”
The site promises “All your media will play directly from your site with no more pop-out players. current radio station users include Dallas KKXT/91.7 and Nashville’s “Lightning 100” WRLT, both featuring adult alternative music.
Fox News is launching a subscription-based streaming service call Fox Nation.
The lineup includes content from Sean Hannidy, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Brit Hume, Brian Kilmeade, former Salem Radio Network host Bill Bennett, former CNN political analyst Roland Martin, podcasts from former RNC Chair Michael Steele, and Forbes.com contributor Rick Ungar.
Radio goes to pot at Beasley’s rhythmic AC “Hot 96.9” WBQT in Boston.
A package containing 30 pounds of marijuana was sent to their mail room, where it stayed for several weeks. Jock Ramiro Torres posted a picture on Instagram and joked “This is why everyone wants to work in our mailroom now.
The Twitter Periscope video livestreaming app for iOS now offers an audio-only option. Only time will tell if this will lead to radio stations and podcasters using Periscope for live news coverage.
Houston translator 105.3 K287BQ is ordered off the air due to interference.
WMPH 91.7 in Wilmington Delaware, a school district-run station receives a $1,000 civil penalty as a result of Four years of missing quarterly documents.
Fox Sports Radio claims “The first-ever national daily radio show focused on sports betting called Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell.
It will run from 6 to 7pm Eastern
Sandy and Andy Ross are donating $5 million to Ohio State’s “WOSU
Public Media. Ohio State is the licensee for both WOSU-TV and two radio stations: news/talk WOSU/89.7 and “Classical 101” WOSA.
Todays National EAS test was postponed until Wednesday, October 3.
This is a dual test of both the Emergency Alert System (for broadcasters, satellite radio, cable systems, MVPD providers) and the Wireless Alert System. The WEA test comes first, at 2:18pm Eastern followed by broadcasters at 2:20.
The owner of KVSL/1470, licensed to Show Low, Arizona, has filed with the fcc for a one-year “test period” under Experimental Authority
He wants to put on a translator at 100.5, turn off the am signal for just under one year, and see if listeners, sponsors and revenue remain the same.
He even asks to “temporarily have the call sign KVSL assigned to the fm translator, as a Class A facility.
Translators aren’t protected against moves by full-power stations.
That guarantee of protection is something translator owners would love.
Some AM station owners dream of saving the expense of running an am station and the cost of a tower and land.
Commercial FM translators can’t originate programming.
They can either rebroadcast an AM, an FM, or FM HD Radio multicast signal.
Chairman Pai has been friendly to AM owners with its Revitalization push.
A three-judge panel of the DC Court of Appeals rules against SoundExchange royalty collection service on all four accounts.
ad-based services submitted by iHeart and Pandora,
subscription-based interactive services, such as Spotify and Apple Music,
“separate license rates for ad-based and subscription-based commercial webcasters, and requirements for auditors who verify royalty payments.
Streaming rates for broadcasters will stay where they are for another two years.
The US Senate passed the Music Modernization Act. Members of the Senate and House will “reconcile” their slightly different versions, and then the bill goes to the Trump White House.
The 2018 Music Modernization Act has a provision ensuring enhanced congressional review of any DOJ changes to ASCAP and BMI consent decrees.
It also creates a new organization to identify the copyright owners for a song’s composition and to pay them the digital royalties they are owed when their music is played on Spotify, Apple Music and broadcasters who stream.
The organization “will be run by publishers and songwriters, and the onus for finding copyright owners and paying them will no longer fall to the streaming services” – a part of the bill they especially like. The law would “close a federal copyright loophole” that let digital users such as SiriusXM and Pandora “play songs recorded prior to 1972 without paying royalties to the artists and record labels, and creates a new legal standard that judges can use to set rates.